BellSouth is prepared for the arrival of Ernesto, as either a hurricane or tropical storm, on the Florida coast. Through its work with the Federal Communications Commission and government agencies, the company has addressed issues related to first responder status and access to impacted areas.
BellSouth is maintaining active dialogue with its partners and suppliers to ensure they meet the company's supply needs before, during and after the storm hits. Through these preparedness efforts, BellSouth will be able to maintain power, provide continuous connectivity and avoid widespread outages.
"BellSouth has a tremendous amount of hurricane experience; however, the unprecedented damage during last year's hurricane season taught us a great deal about our network and what we needed to do to make it even stronger," said Bill Smith, BellSouth's Chief Technology Officer. "We are confident in our readiness and ability to keep our customers connected or, at a minimum, reconnect them quickly."
Since last year, the company has done a number of things to prepare for the 2006 hurricane season. Those preparations included increasing its supply of emergency generators to provide power to its network in the event commercial power is lost. Currently, many of BellSouth's switching facilities include permanent generators, some of which are fueled by natural gas and do not require re-fueling. Several additional steps have been taken to prepare for this hurricane season.
"Just as important as our preparedness efforts, we want residents and businesses in Florida to be equally prepared," continued Smith. BellSouth offers customers several tips to stay safe, smart and connected before, during, and after a hurricane or other natural disaster.
